The week started with extreme snow in the Sierra Nevada, where a powerful high altitude storm system brought more than 60 inches of snow to California’s highest peaks. Winds over 100 mph battered the Sierra Ridge as fee of snow piled high, sparking avalanche concerns and forcing the closure of Interstate 80. Visibility at time plummeted to near zero.
Snow has finally diminished a bit after California’s Sierra Nevada picked up several feet of snow, part of a “Miracle March” weather pattern helping to replenish vital, water-providing snowpack after a record-dry February.
Heavy snow began in the Sierra last Saturday and continued through Monday night leading to major travel headaches.
Monday night, a section of Interstate 80 westbound near the California-Nevada state line was closed due to multiple spinouts.
More rain and snow area headed to Northern California on Tuesday, although the storm won’t be nearly enough to make up for what’s been a relatively dry January.
The National Weather Service said rain is expected to start falling at around 7 a.m. Tuesday, just in time for the morning commute. Light snow should hit the Sierra Nevada a couple of hours later, said NWS forecaster Craig Shoemaker.
A fast-moving storm will bring a chance of rain and snow in San Diego County Thursday before exiting by midday Friday, according to the National Weather Service. The cold front moving down the coast is expected to bring a drop in temperatures, gusty winds out of the west, a chance of rain everywhere except deserts areas and a chance of snow in the mountains, forecasters said.
The rain is expected to start falling this evening, then linger overnight before the storm system leaves by Friday afternoon. Rainfall totals could reach 1 inch in the mountains, while a quarter- inch of rain is expected in coastal areas and the western valleys.
Angelenos will get a brief reprieve from soggy weather Thursday after a series of storms dampened the region over the past week, but forecasters say we shouldn’t get used to it. The rain convoy is continuing as a cold front from the Pacific Northwest begins to move into California on Friday. The northern part of the state is expected to see the first rain early Friday. The storm will roll into Southern California by Friday night and will linger across the state through Sunday, bringing widespread rain and snow, according to the National Weather Service. Los Angeles and Ventura counties are expected to get less than a quarter-inch of precipitation, while San Luis Obispo County could see up to an inch in most areas and up to 2 inches in the foothills.
Gusty winds in the San Diego County mountains this morning will precede significant rain showers throughout Southern California Wednesday, with a cold storm expected to make road conditions challenging for holiday traveler through the end of the week.
Wind gusts reaching 35-45 mph are expected in the mountains before the first front of the storm comes through Wednesday afternoon, National Weather Service meteorologist Miguel Miller said.
A major winter storm, the first of the season, is forecasted to drench California this week, just in time to make Thanksgiving travels all the more difficult, especially if you have to cross the mountain pass on the way to Thanksgiving dinner. The storm is expected to arrive Tuesday afternoon or evening, and will bring significant rain to lower elevations (potentially putting an end of fire seasons) while dumping up to a couple feet of snow in the Sierra Nevada, and even a few inches of snow in the hills around Willits, Covelo, and Laytonville.
With some weird weather already in the books this month, Mother Nature may have one last hurrah in store for Northern California before summer officially ends.
A wave of thunderstorms passed over northeast California and near Reno on Tuesday afternoon, with the National Weather Service’s Reno office sharing a photo of what appears to be light snow on the Mt. Rose Highway at an elevation of about 8,500 feet.
A welcome surge of melting snow is pouring out of the Rocky Mountains and into the drought-stricken rivers of the southwestern U.S., fending off a water shortage but threatening to push rivers over their banks. Last winter brought above-average snowfall to much of Colorado, Utah and Wyoming, so an abundance of snowmelt is rushing into the Colorado River, the Rio Grande and other waterways after a desperately dry 2018.
It’s been a winter for the ages in Tahoe, with barely an end in sight. In February, Squaw Valley recorded its all-time highest snowfall for a single month with 313 inches (read: almost 1 foot per day on average). The region rolled into a wonderfully average March, and then to a quintessentially warm and sunny spring. Summer looked to be on the horizon, with trails beginning to melt out in April. But then a flurry of mid-May storms arrived, and we’re heading into Memorial Day weekend with boot-deep powder on the slopes. Historically, the Tahoe region has seen active weather patterns through May, with 80 of the last 109 years recorded measuring more than a trace of snow in the area.
